German Politicians Have Been Victims of a Mass Hacking Attack

Personal information belonging to German politicians, including Angela Merkel, was hacked and published online last month

An unknown hacker gained access to personal details of hundreds of German politicians, as well as celebrities and journalists, and has released the information on Twitter around Christmas. It was released in a sort of Advent Calendar that included bills and credit card details, phone numbers, personal chat histories, and email addresses.

Even though the attack took place over Christmas, it was not reported until Friday morning by Berlin’s RBB. It seems that affected by the attacks were factions of SPD, Left and Greens from the Brandenburg state parliament, but none from the AfD faction. Journalists from ARD and ZDF, satirist Jan Böhmermann, rap group K.I.Z., and rapper Marteria have also been targeted, according to the reports.

The information leaked was of personal nature, some of which are several years old, however, no politically sensitive information appears to have been published. The Twitter account that appears to have been linked to an internet platform based in Hamburg has now been deleted, but the identity of the hacker has yet to be discovered.

Minister of Justice Katarina Barley stated this was a “serious attack” against “democracy and institutions”, while the German federal office for information security (BSI) is further investigating the hack.